Blue-silver power armor gleams in one corner of the room. Next to it, a bench sits, littered with pieces from various projects, some nearly completed and others just piles of parts. There's a small stack of scrolls in one corner of the workbench. On the wall directly above the bench is an American flag, though the stars have been replaced with the symbol of the Colonial Assassins. Below the bench are several crates of extra parts.
There's a bed in the corner. Next to this bed is a desk. On this desk is a computer. It's on, and currently playing an audio track.
"They're following me."
"How do they know you exist, Nollaig?"
"Well, I don't know, maybe working for them tipped them off? I have been here for ten years.
"And I killed Conchobhar."
"Didn't he think you were one of them?"
"Doesn't matter. There's no Bureau in Brockton Bay. No safehouses that I can find. Nothing. It's like they were never here."
"But they're there now."
Sitting at the desk, listening to the track, is a young parahuman. He calls himself Mercurial, because he made his armor out of mercury. His real name is Chris Warren. At 16, he is the youngest member of a group led by the Assassin-descended Orcus.
"Are you sure? Erudito has been wrong before. Remember Pearce?"
"That wasn't our fault and you know it. If his sister hadn't been captured..."
"At least he didn't follow Vega."
"He killed Vega."
Chris is recording an ongoing conversation between Nollaig O'Donnell, the Abstergo system administrator for Brockton Bay, and an unnamed member of the grey hat hacker collective Erudito. He marks down the names Pearce and Vega; Aiden Pearce is a known associate of Erudito, but Vega is a new name.
"Look, I can't run from them. They know everything about me. So unless you can give me some proof there are-"
"They have someone recording this call. I can't find their exact location, but they're definitely there."
Now he's paying more attention. If Erudito know he's listening in...
"...What am I supposed to do about that?"
"Set up a meeting. Pretend you're meeting someone for lunch tomorrow. Your bosses won't care. Then the both of you show up and have a nice chat. Maybe they'll be willing to get you out of Templar hands.
"Nollaig, it's not like you have a lot you can do. After that firefight, they're probably wondering about you. Your family are all Assassins, even though they won't talk to you."
"I know, damn it... Fine. Let's meet at that diner on Sunset tomorrow. Over by the Boardwalk."
"See? Simple."
"I have to go."
As the call ends, Chris makes a note to meet Nollaig O'Donnell at the small Italian diner on Sunset Drive. He begins putting together a folder of information; he also sends a message to an associate on Parahumans Online. Then he picks up the phone and dials the number for Dragon Industries. If he can't get O'Donnell on their side, he can at least get the man a ticket to another country.
